Cutter and feeder mechanism for blower type snowplows



Jan. 29, 1957 T. F. GARLAND 2,779,112

CUTTER AND FEEDER MECHANISM FOR BLOWER TYPE SNOWPLOWS Filed Sept. 26,1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l W W IJYVENI'OR 77950004; GARzA/w Jan. 29, 1957 T.F. GARLAND 2,779,112

CUTTER AND FEEDER MECHANISM FOR BLOWER TYPE SNOWPLOWS Filed Sept. 26,11952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5:00am- A Gum/v0 5y 0%, W 5 4% ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent CU'ITER AND FEEDER lVIECHANISM F OR BLOWER TYPESNOWPLOWS Theodore F. Garland, Fargo, N. Dak.

Application September 26, 1952, Serial No. 311,745

4 Claims. (Cl. 37-43) This invention relates to an attachment forsnowplows which will assist in the removal of snow and more particularlyto a cutter and feeder mechanism adapted to be attached at the front ofa blower type snowplow.

In the use of conventional type snowplows and especial- 1y plows of theblower type, deep and compacted snowdrifts are often encountered. Whenthe snowplow comes in contact with such a snowdrift, the forward speedthereof may be lessened and the general efliciency of the device greatlyimpaired. The cutting edges of the mold boards or housing surroundingthe front of the snowplow must be pushed and pressed into the driftswithout the assistance of moving parts and hence much power is lost inthe forward travel of the conventional blower type plow which does nothave additional mechanism. In order to help break and loosen snow andice from deep drifts various rotating breaker and cutter arms have beenemployed, all operating in advance of the blower fan. Usually a singlerotating element is employed covering an area which is a compromisebetween that requiring a moderate amount of power and that which willgive complete pulverizing of the entire area of the drift. If the radialarms are too long, it is obvious that the snowplow will lose a greatdeal of the power required for the ejection of snow by the fan. On theother hand, if the arms are too short, only a portion of the drift willbe preconditioned and the caked snow and ice from the top of the driftmust be contacted by the mold boards and housing of the snowplow inorder to break down the drift. When thus broken down, the drift willyield large chunks of caked snow which will fall into the blower, oftenbreaking or straining parts of the snowplow and greatly lessening theefiiciency of operation. Furthermore, the moving element is often ascrew type conveyor which must laboriously wear its way into the snowbank thus requiring still additional power.

It is therefore an important object of my invention to provide a dualcutter and feeder mechanism which will supply the proper treatment todrifted snow at both high and lower levels for obtaining an eilicientoperation of the blower type snowplow to which the mechanism isattached.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an attachment of theclass described which will conserve the power required for forwardmovement of a rotary snowplow while at the same time reducing theparticle size of the packed snow and ice in a snowdrift for easydisposal through the blower fan.

It is a still further object. to provide a mechanism operable from acommon power source on a rotary snowplow which will prevent undue shockand strain upon the snowplow and which at the same time will operateefficiently through vibratory or wobbling action created by momentum ofoscillating parts and driving connections to conserve power and do'acomplete job of snow removal even in drifts of an unusually deep andcompacted nature.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fullyappear from the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to similarparts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of my cutter and feeder mechanism attached toa conventional blower type snowplow which in turn is mounted at the foreof a vehicle;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of my mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a segmental view in vertical section of the drive mechanismtaken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of another embodiment of my cutter and feedermechanism; and

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the embodiment shown in Fig. 4.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the blower type snowplowis indicated generally at S and is mounted in conventional manner to avehicle such as truck T. The snowplow S has a forwardly facing blowerhousing 10 with a spout 11, not shown in its entirety, for lateralejection of snowfrom a bank 12 through which a pathway is being cleared.The supporting structure or framework 13 on vehicle T may be attached tothe snowplow S by such means as a pair of upper arms 14 pivoted to theframe at 15 and to the snowplow housing at 16. A lower attachment arm 17may be similarly pivoted at 18 to the frame 13 and at 19 to the snowplowhousing. Hydraulic ram 20 may be pivoted at point 21 of the frame 13 andto a lower point 22 on the snowplow S. The bracing means will thusoperate to raise the entire snowplow S under the influence of hydraulicram 20 and allow it to be lowered as the case may require. A source ofpower such as takeoff shaft 23 is connected to the rotary blower device24 through shaft 27 which is journaled through a bearing assembly 25 andoperably connects through a universal joint 26 to the source of power23. The universal joint 26 thus serves to drive shaft 27 and the blower24 attached thereto by its hub member 28. The forwardly facing housing Hprovides a snow-engaging and penetrating structure which may be a partof the conventional blower type snowplow S or may be a separateattachment as shown in the drawing. The housing H comprises a pair ofside boards 29 having forwardly facing cutting edges 30 for engagingsnow 12. A downwardly and forwardly angled scoop element 31 has aleading edge 32 in close clearance with the road, sidewalk or othersimilar pathway to be cleared.

My invention comprises a cutter and feeder mechanism having a lowerbladed element L for journaling across the inlet 34 of the blowerhousing 10 and an upper cutter element U which is reciprocable inrelation to the lower bladed element L and the forward housing H. Thebladed element L may comprise beater blades 35 secured in staggeredrelation along a shaft 36 which is journaled in bearings 37 which inturn are mounted upon a bearing support 38. The support is secured inturn to the upwardly facing plane of scoop element 31. Between thebearings 37 on shaft 36 is mounted a beveled gear 39 which is in drivencontact with the beveled pinion driver 40 similarly journaled in bearing41 as shown in detail in Fig. 3, and which is likewise mounted upon thebearing support 38. A connecting shaft 42 is universally connected at 43to the forwardly projecting end of shaft 27 upon which the blower fan 24is rotatably secured.

The shaft 36 extends across the blower opening 34 and the ends thereofterminate within the space defined by mold boards 29. A crank 44 issecured to the shaft 36 at each end and pivoted radially thereto is anarm or link 45 by means of pivots 46 on each of the cranks 44. The arms45 terminate at their upper portion in a short T-shaped cross element 47as shown in Fig. 1. One end of the cross element bears an obtuseV-shaped cutter bar 48 having a cutting edge 49 at the top thereof andanother cutting edge 50 along the lower portion thereof. The rearwardextending portion of the T-shaped cross member 47 is pivotally securedat 51 to guide means such as rocker arm 52 which is in turn pivotallysecured at its other end 53 to a bracket member 54 mounted forwardly andupwardly of the blower 24 such as at the inner face of housing H. TheT-shaped element together with its cutting blades and rocker armconstitute the cutter element U.

In the operation of my cutter and feeder mechanism the vehicle T isdriven toward snow 12 and the hydraulic ram is then operated to lowerthe entire snowplow together with my mechanism so as to operate in closeclearance with the ground 33. The driving assembly is then set inmotion, such as from power take-off 23, and the blower 24 will turn in acounterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2. The extension of shaft27 through the blower will cause the beveled pinion gear 49 to rotatethe beveled driven gear 39 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed inFig. 1. The rotation of the driven gear 33' will cause the beater blades35 to contact the lower portion of drift 12, pulverizing chunks of snowwhich may fall thereupon and simultaneously therewith feeding the snowdownwardly, then rearwardly over the scoop 31 and into the blowerhousing 10 from which it is elected in the conventional manner. Sincethe cranks 4 rotate in unison with the shaft 36, the cutter element Uwill be oscillated laterally to the forward direction of travel of thesnowplow and the rocker arms 52 will guide the movement thereof in acontrolled manner. It will be noted that upon the down stroke of crank44, as viewed in Fig. l, the lower cutting edge 59 on bar 48 willslightly lead the trailing edge 49 so as to slice and cut snow from bank12 into particles which will fall upon the beater blades 35 and bepulverized and fed into the blower 24. As the cranks 4d reach theirlowermost position the arms will have progressed to a rearward position,thus placing the upper edge 49 of bar 48 in the leading position withthe edge 50 trailing. This condition prevails during the upward strokesof cranks 44 until the uppermost position has been attained, from whichpoint the cycle is repeated as before noted. The function of the cutterelement is to progressively cut and break down the upper layers of snowin a bank or drift so as to minimize the work of the housing H forciblypressing its way into such a bank. It is also a function of the cutterelement U to supply coir tinuously snow chunks of moderate size from theupper portion of the snowdrift to the beater blades 35 which furtherpulverizes them and feeds them into the blower housing 10. The cutterelement U takes a surprisingly small amount of energy to efiiciently andprogressively reduce the upper layers of a snowdrift while at the sametime maintaining a constant and uninterrupted ejection of snow duringthe forward travel of the vehicle T.

Another embodiment of my invention is shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the cutterbar being similar to the cutter bar 48 in the first mentioned embodimentbut being slidably mounted in guideways 56 formed at each side 29 ofhousing H rather than pivoting on the rocker arm 52. A cooperatingguided element 57 is secured to each arm or link 45 which in turn ispivotally secured each to low point 58 at a forward point on each of apair of lever arms 59. Secured to the forward end of lever arm 59 arehoe or blade means such as the central blade 60 and side blades 61.. Thesame type scoop element 31 is employed as in the first mentionedembodiment. The forward extending end of each of the lever arms 59extend through an opening or slot 62 formed in each side 20 of thehousing H so that the forward ends of arms 59 will be working within thehousing H rather than in front and outside of the housing. The leverarms 59 are pivotally secured to the rocker link members 63 by pivotpins 64. The links 63 in turn are each pivoted at 65 to a supportingstructure such as framework 66.

An eccentric element or crank 67 has a shaft 68 which is journaledacross the supporting structure 66 and bears at its lateral extremity apin 69 which is journaled in each of the lever arms 59 at a pointintermediate the ends thereof. Shaft 68 may be rotatably powered by thesame source of power which drives the blower blades 24 or may beindependently powered to accomplish the 531116 Purpose.

The operation of the second embodiment is similar to that of the firstbut the action of a portion thereof is somewhat different. Instead of arotatable feeding mechanism there is a type of raking action whichaccomplishes the same purpose by bringing the bladed elements 61) and 61down into snow which may be formed in a bank forwardly of the plow aswell as loose chunks of snow which have been dislodged and fed from theupper reciprocating blade element 55. The blades 60 and 61 then pullrearwardly so as to positively pull a quantity of snow into the blowerhousing 10 and the cycle is repeated for each turn of the crank element67. The cutter bar 55 operates in the same manner as in the firstembodiment, a complete raising and lowering cycle occurring for eachoscillating cycle of the arms 59.

Although the operation of the two embodiments is similar it will benoted that in the case of the bladed ele ments 60 and 61 in the secondembodiment there is a reciprocating momentum established which ispractically non-existent in the bladed element L of the first embodimentsince the latter rotates circularly about a shaft. The weight of thearms 59 in moving backwardly and forwardly produces a wobbling action inthe entire mechanism which tends to assist the advance of housing H andthe cutter and feeder mechanism in general into a bank of snow which hasbecome solidly packed. I prefer to employ the second embodiment insmaller plows such as sidewalk plows and small machines for clearingpathways or a small width of roadway. For heavy duty work such as onhighways I prefer the first embodiment since the mass of arms 59 willproduce an exaggerated vibration if applied to a piece of equipment oflarger construction. In the first embodiment, a lesser but still usefulvibration is created by the off-center oscillation of arms 45, cranks44, rocker arms 52 and other parts of the cutter and feeder mechanismexcepting the balanced bladed element L itself.

It may thus be seen that I have provided an extremely eflicient cutterand feeder mechanism for blower type snowplows in which I have struck auseful balance between the portion of the mechanism which merely breaksdown the upper portion of a snowdrift as compared to the more violentportion which contacts the lower portion of the drift while at the sametime pulverizing and feeding all the snow contacted into the blowerhousing. In other words, I have managed to conserve the energy which isapplied to the portion of the mechanism which requires the greatestamount of power.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made inthe form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts withoutdeparting from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a snowplow of the type having snow-engaging and pentratingstructure, a rotary blower and a forwardly facing inlet for theintroduction of snow to the blower, a cutter and feeder mechanismtherefor comprising a rotatable shaft journalled transversely of saidsnowplow, a single-bladed cutter element disposed forwardly of saidblower inlet in guided relation and oscillable in a direction lateral tothe forward direction of travel of the snowplow, and a drivingconnection operably secured to said shaft at a position eccentric to theaxis of the shaft for operating the oscillable cutter element and forvibrating the snow-engaging and penetrating structure whereby to cut,beat and feed in metered fashion to the blower element of the snowplow,compacted snow and ice.

2. In a cutter and feeder mechanism for a blower type snowplow with aforwardly facing blower inlet for the introduction of snow, thecombination of a housing having means for attachment to the front ofsaid snowplow in a position registering with said blower inlet andfurther having side walls and a downwardly and forwardly disposed scoopat the bottom thereof, a bladed element mounted across the sides of saidhousing and forwardly of said inlet, the blades of said bladed elementbeing movable in a cycle to contact the snow and to move downwardly andbackwardly at least in a portion of its cycle of operation, a cutter barmounted upon said housing above the bladed element for guidedoscillating move ment laterally of the forward direction of travel ofthe snowplow, and driving means operably connected to said bladedelement and said cutter bar extending rearwardly from said housing to asource of power whereby hard and packed snow in drifted condition willbe cut and fractured by the cutter bar so as to fall downwardly uponsaid bladed element and thence to be moved backwardly together with snowcontacted at a lower level by the bladed element, the composite snowbeing preliminarily broken and fed thereby into the blower inlet.

3. A cutter and feeder mechanism adapted to be attached forwardly of theblower inlet of a blower type snowplow, comprising a bladed elementmountable horizontally across said inlet, the blades of said elementsbeing revolvable in a cycle to contact snow and the like and to movedownwardly and backwardly at least in a portion of its cycle ofoperation, a cutter element mountable forwardly and upwardly of saidinlet and above the bladed element for vertical oscillation and madirection lateral to the forward movement of travel of said snowplow, alink member secured to the cutter element and pivoted at its lower endto the bladed element and revolvable therewith, and driving meansoperably connected to said bladed element for causing the bladed elementto revolve and to disintegrate and feed snow and the like to said inlet,each revolution of said bladed element causing a vertical oscillation ofthe cutter element in a downward and upward movement for cutting andfracturing hard and packed snow and causing it to fall downwardly uponsaid bladed element where it will be disintegrated and fed rearwardly tosaid inlet by means of the bladed element.

4. A cutter and feeder mechanism adapted to be attached forwardly of theblower inlet of a blower type snowplow, comprising a rotatable feederhaving blades radially attached thereto and mountable horizontallyacross and forwardly of said inlet, each blade being rotatable in acycle to contact snow and the like in at least a downward and backwardportion of its rotation, a cutter bar mountable forwardly and upwardlyof said inlet and above the rotatable feeder, said cutter bar beingoscillable in a direction lateral to the forward movement of travel ofsaid snowplow, said cutter bar further having a depending portionconstituting a connecting link pivotally secured at a point eccentric tothe axis of said rotatable feeder, and driving means operably connectedto said rotatable feeder for causing the blades of the feeder to rotateand to disintegrate and feed snow and the like to said inlet eachrevolution of said rotatable feeder causing a vertical oscillation ofthe cutter bar in a downward and upward movement for cutting andfracturing hard and packed snow and causing it to fall downwardly uponsaid rotatable feeder where it will be disintegrated and fed rearwardlyto said inlet by means of the rotatable feeder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,205,342 Glass Nov. 21, 1916 1,400,673 Gilliland Dec. 20, 19211,820,707 Moen etal Aug. 25, 1931 1,923,444 La Clair Aug. 22, 19332,171,056 Clay Aug. 29, 1939 2,198,237 Voorderman Apr. 23, 1940

